48 Hours: What was Rex Heuermann's connection with the Gilgo Beach serial killing in Long Island? Details revealed

CBS' documentary news true-crime series 48 Hours covered the infamous Gilgo Beach serial killings on Long Island in 2011. The serial killer case, which has been revisited in many scripted documentaries and films, remains one of the most shocking and brutal cases of female murders. The reign of horror started in December 2010 when the Suffolk County police discovered human remains near Gilgo Beach. The remains belonged to four women: Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Lynn Costello. The women (now called the Gilgo Four) were in their early 20s and worked as sex workers.

As revealed on 48 Hours, the police continued to find six more sets of female remains, making this a classic case of serial killings. While the investigators went almost a decade without any suspect, a chance re-questioning brought Rex Heuermann to their radar.

Rex Heuermann, a Nassau County resident and an architect by profession, lived near Gilgo Beach with his second wife and children. In 2022, Heuermann was identified as the Long Island Beach Killer and was charged with first-degree murder for three out of the original Gilgo Four.

How did the Suffolk County police identify and arrest Rex Heuermann after a decade?

Here's what 48 Hours reported on the Gilgo Beach serial killing in Long Island.

48 Hours: How did Rex Heuermann become the primary suspect in the Gilgo Beach murders after a decade?

48 Hours re-aired the episode on the Gilgo Beach killings after Rex Heuermann was narrowed down as the primary suspect. While Suffolk County police went ten years without any clues or a suspect, a new task force formed in February 2022 gave this case a new direction and a suspect. The newly formed task force re-questioned the family and friends of the original Gilgo victims, which brought them to one of Amber Lynn Costello's friends.

Costello's friend told Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney about one of her clients who was last seen with her. He described him as a white male in his mid-twenties to mid-forties of a large build, almost like an ogre, who drove a first-generation Chevy Avalanche. Additionally, Costello's friend revealed she was constantly contacted by this desperate client, which gave the police a new lead and they searched her phone records from 2010.

The phone records matched a burner phone, whose calls were traced to cell towers inside a small area of Massapequa Park. On 48 Hours, Tierney revealed how this helped them reach Rex Heuermann:

''Once we were able to attach the … Avalanche inside of that Massapequa box, which then attached to Rex Heuermann, that was a moment where we said, OK, there's something here.''

48 Hours: Additional clues and a DNA match

Now that the police had their primary suspect, they made fast progress. As the detectives told 48 Hours, they located Rex Heuermann in his house and traced his burner phone records to three out of the original four Gilgo Beach victims. Additionally, they found an email used to contact all three victims for their escort services.

Circumstantial evidence, including Heuermann's disturbing internet searches for 'sadistic materials, child pornography, and images of the victims and their relatives.' In addition, a complete timeline of the investigation's progress found in his house indicated that he was monitoring the case closely.

Suffolk County police finally made a breakthrough when they extracted the suspect's DNA from a pizza crust found in his trash. Mitochondrial DNA testing indicated a potential match between the suspect's DNA and the DNA profile from the hair found with Megan Waterman's (original Gilgo victim) body. Additionally, DNA from leather belts used to bind Maureen Brainard-Barnes was found to match Heuermann's wife, though there is no indication she was involved in the killings.

On July 14, 2023, Rex Heuermann was charged with the murder of three of the original Gilgo Four (Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy, and Amber Costello). On January 16, 2024, he was found guilty of the killing of the fourth victim (Maureen Brainard-Barnes). He was also charged in connection with Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla on June 6.

The suspect has pleaded guilty to all charges and is currently being held at Riverhead Correctional Facility (Suffolk County Jail) in Riverhead, New York.

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Also Read: 48 Hours: Who was Farah Fratta and what happened to her?

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